Refrigerator.



W. HOOEY REFHIGERATOR. APPLICATION F|LED APR.16,1914.

Patented Apr. 25,1916.

www

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Q1/91% new wwwwwf@ WITNESSES.- CQMMWHUM IN VEN TOR.

THE COLUMBIA PLANODRAPH CEL. WASHINGTON, D. C.

W.,HOOEY.

REFRIGERATOR.

APPLICATION FILED APR. I6. 1914.

A TTORNE um w 2. m Imm m 1w m m2 @I \I Mm ,nm mv In@ \II.I\,\ II y m w Q b N m I\\ r I M NN D w 9 I, m I, I l

THE COLUMBIA PLAISOURAPH can. WASHINGTON, v9. L

WILBERT HOOEY, OF TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA.

REFRIGERATOR.

mensen.

Application filed April 1G, 1914.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, VVILBnR'r HoonY, a subject of the King of Great Britain, of the city of Toronto, county of York, Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerators, of which the following is a speciication.

My invention relates to improvements in refrigerators, and one of the objects of my invention is to utilize the bottom or underside of each drip pan so as to provide a plurality of so-called air flues which provide free escape for the warm air or gases to the warm air or gas iiues at each side of the refrigerator.

Another object of my invention is to construct the upper sides of the said drip pans so that it is possible to drain off the water therefrom through the middle of the end of each drip pan, thus doing away with the necessity of having to tilt the drip pans toward one corner to facilitate the drainage, and at the same time to incline the said drip pans toward their rear ends, thus resulting in the further advantage of .at no time interfering with the escape of cold air from the ice chamber between each side of the drip pans and the cross beams supporting the same.

Another object of my invention is to construct the projecting undersides of the hoods so that any moisture collecting thereon will be bound to run to the outer edges of said hoods above said drip pans so as to insure the moisture dropping thereinto.

A still further object of my invention is to combine with each end of the drip pans end boards which will .at all time project above the lower edge of the ice chamber, so as to compel the cold air to pass downward and so prevent its premature escape to the warm air or gas fiues.

The construction of the various parts of my refrigerator will. be hereinafter particularly set forth, and the parts I claim as new, will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Figure l is a vertical cross section through a refrigerator showing in end elevation, the drip pans and hoods, and the supporting parts therefor. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section, on an enlarged scale, through one of said drip pans .and supporting parts there.- for, and also through one of the side aprons and through portion of one of the hoods.

i Specification of Letters atent.

Patented Apr. 25, i916.

Serial No. 832,36).

Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section on the line 3 3 Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the end boards hereinafter particularly referred to, and Fig. 5 is a detail view of a corner portion of one of the cross pieces with its mounting bracket.

In the drawings, like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure.

In that class of refrigerators to which my invention appertains, the ice chamber is situated immediately above the cooling chamber, and it is a desideratum to have a plentiful supply of cold air pass from said ice chamber down into the cooling chamber in order to regulate the temperature of this latter chamber, so that it can be kept at the required degree of temperature without unnecessary consumption of ice. By constructing my refrigerator at the sides and ends thereof so as to provide widened discharge ends for the warm air ilues, I provide a ready escape of the warm air and gases from said Hues into the ice chamber, thus resulting in the absence of any retarding in .the rate of flow of the air and gases in the said fines. By providing the end boards at each end of the drip pans, I compel the cold air to pass between the drip pans and the supporting means therefor and prevent the same from escaping at each end of the said drip pans into the warm air flues prematurely. Therefore I prevent any undue confliction between the down-passing and uppassing currents of air, resulting in the required air circulation.

The walls A of the refrigerator are provided with the usual dead air spaces, and B is `any suitable floor therefor.

C are a plurality of cross beams carried by the walls A and mounted on the posts M, which posts are positioned upon the floor B and engage the opposite walls A. These cross beams support the hoods -D which are immediately underneath the ice rack E. Each hood D is provided with downwardoutward extending sides F, the side edges Gr of which overhang the drip pans I-I. The top of each hood is preferably covered with galvanized iron I, and the side edges of said covering I terminates in vertical flanges J which are spaced apart from the side edges G and of course overhang the drip pans H.

At each side of the refrigerator and on the end .cross beams K are supported side aprons n.. These side aprons are really llO practically a little more than one half the width of the hoods D, thus providing each side apron with a downward-inward extend'- ing side L. The said side aprons are also provided' with the covering I shaped .as before described, with the exception that the outer edge o-f the metallic covering on each side apron is formed to provide a vertical flange Q to prevent the possibility of any moisture passing into the warm air flues over the said side aprons.

The under surface of each side I-` and L is constructed at a downward-inward angle, thus compelling moisture collected thereon to flow to the side edges G and so be positioned directly above the drip pans H. rlhis is a very important feature in my invention, as it positively insures the disposal of such moisture without the same passing down into the cooling chamber'.

Any suitable means may be employed to retain the hoods D and side aprons a in place, so as to prevent the displacement of these parts and so interfere with the circulation of the air. I prefer to use dowel pins b supported in each cross beam C and projecting thereabove for the purpose stated. These'dowel pins rest in holes c formed in the hoods D and side aprons a. I ind it only necessary to use one dowel pin at each end of lthe said hoods and aprons.

The upper portion of the sides and ends of the walls el of the ice chamber are inclined inwardly as shown at e, thus providing the warm `air flues f with flared mouths so as to permit a ready escape of the warm air and gases therefrom thus preventing any retarding in the rate of flow through said air tlues. Vertical supports g are provided at intervals in the warm air lues, to give support to the walls d of the ice chamber.

The cold air currents are indicted by arrows without tails, and it will be seen in the drawings that the cold air currents escape from the ice chamber down into the cooling chamber around the sides of the hoods D and side aprons a and between the drip pans H and the cross beams C. Now to prevent the currents of cold air escaping into the warm air flues at each end of the 4drip pans H, I provide the end boards 3 which are cut away in their undersides as shown at 4f to provide side pieces 5. By reason of the construction just described and illustrated in Fig. 11, the said end boards straddle the ends 6 of the drip pans H, and rest thereupon as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. These end boards have vertical movement in the kerfs 7 formed in the cross beams C. Now the construction just described effectually prevents the cold air currents from escaping at the end of each drip pan into the warm air flues y 7,y and compels the said air currents to pass down into the cooling chamber.

As before mentioned, one of the objects of my invention v is to support the drip pans H so as to facilitate the drainage of the water collected therein without in any way obstructing the spaces between the sides of said drip pans and the cross beams C. Now

suitable supporting means is provided for said drip pans. and it will be understood that as the angle of inclination of said drip pans is altered the end boards 3 must raise or lower as required. But at no time will the said end boards move below the corner S of the bottom portion of the side walls al of the ice chamber, thus effectually preventing any opening for the premature escape of cold air into the warm air flues I shall now describe a suitable construction to support the drip pans from the cross beams C. At each underside of said drip pans, and underneath the ends G are placed blocks 9 which are carried by cross pieces 10. These cross pieces are provided at each end with the Z-shaped brackets 11 which are pivoted by the pins or bolts 1Q to the underside of each cross piece 10 and at the ends thereof. The nose 13 of each bracket 11 rests in a kerf 14 formed in the sides of the cross beams C. These kerfs are constructed by al circular saw so as to be shaped to permit of the ready insertion and removal of the noses 13 when the drip pans H are being adjusted. The ends of the cross pieces 10 and blocks 9 will be constructed curved or with rounded ends to permit of the rotary movement of said brackets 11 around their pins or bolts 12, and whereby the brackets kerfs 14 being provided in the cross beam C i so as to permit of the adjustment of the drip pans H in respect of the hoods D so as to regulate the size of the passage way between these parts in order to control the circulation.

The inside of the drip pans I-I is constructed so as to cause the water therein to flow toward the center thereof so as to facilitate the drainage of the water through the rear end of each pan. As illustrated particularly in Figs. 2 and 3, the insides of the said drip pans are preferably lined with galvanized iron 15. My preferred construction for the bottom of the inside of each drip pan H isto slope inwardly the sides of the l "i bottom of each pan as shown at 1G to a central longitudinal at portion 17, at the rear end of which portion opens a drain pipe 1S through the rear end 19 of each drip pan.

Each pipe 18 is coupled to a .down pipe 20.

and these down pipes are in turn coupled to a slanted pipe 21 leading to a down pipe 2Q. In the `prior art it is common to tilt the drip pans on an aXis passing through diametrically opposed corners, thus causing the water to drain down to the lowest corner and into a drain pipe opening therefrom. While this old method certainly drained away the water, still it possesses the great disadvantage of interfering with the circulation of the cold air from the ice chamber into the cooling chamber, in that necessarily the sides of the said drip pans are positioned out of the vertical so as to decrease the capacity of the passage ways down each side of the said drip pans and the cross beams C (see dotted lines in Fie. 2). The said passage ways are only of the greatest capacity when the sides of the drip pans ll are parallel with the opposing sides of the cross beams C. Now while I longitudinally tilt or incline the drip pans H, l do not turn them on their longitudinal axes, with the result that the sides thereof are always substantially parallel to the sides of the cross beams C, resulting in the advantages set forth.

ln many known forms of refrigerators, the bulk of warm air or gases follows the lines of least resistance andv escapes from the cooling chamber into the ice chamber through the warm air lues. The present refrigerator is capable of holding a large quantity of meat suspended therein, and it is known that the gases rising directly from the meat and collecting around the under sides of the drip pans will keep the upper' portions of the meat always in a moist or wet condition unless such gases be carried away, such moisture allowing the meat to spoil. Under such circumstances, gas pockets will be formed between the different pieces of meat and the present drip pan flues effectually carry away the gas arising from the meat and especially at the middle portion of the cooling chamber' of the refrigerator which is an advantage in preserving the meat.

ln order to readily permit the escape of warm airand gases to each side of the refrigerator, l construct the underside of each drip pan to perform the function of a flue. The underside of each drip pan is channeled throughout its length as shown at 23. The dotted line 24 illustrates the approximate position of the bottom of the current of warm air or gases flowing through the said channels. rllhe said channels may be concaved or constructed in the shape of an inverted V, as illustrated, or in any other suitable shape.

From the foregoing specification, it will be understood that the inside and bottom undersides of the drip pans are substantially trough shaped, with the longitudinal` center of the troughs in the middle of said drip pan. Supporting and draining the said d rip pans as described removes all supporting parts within the cooling chamber underneath said drip pans, thus practically increasing the storage capacity of the cooling chamber, and removing all obstacles in the interior of the cooling chamber which would retard the circulation of air.

What l claim as my invention is:

l. ln a refrigerator, the combination with the walls thereof; of an ice chamber' positioned therewithin and spaced apart therefrom so as to form side and end warn air or gas fines; horizontal cross beams supported within said refrigerator and underneath said ice chamber, and a hood supported on the top of each cross beam; a drip pan positioned between each pair of said beams and laterally spaced apart therefrom and designed to receive the drip from said hoods; the said drip pans being inclined or sloped backwardly and held sox that their sides will always be substantially parallel to the opposing sides of said cross beams; a drain pipe for each drip pan; and a movable cutoff straddling each end of the said drip pans and projecting beyond each side therel of to the sides of the cross beams between which each drip pan is positioned and high enough to always overlap the lower edge of the ice chamber and supported to prevent the escape of cold air at either end of the said drip pans, as set forth.

2. A refrigerator comprising walls, an ice chamber positioned within the said walls and spaced therefrom so as to form side and end fines, horizontal cross beams positioned and supported underneath the said icechamber, a hood supported on the top of each of said cross beams and a drip pan positio-ned beneath the said hoods and between each pair of said cross beams and provided with a channeled bottom throughout its length opening at each end into the said end flues.

3. In a refrigerator provided with an ice box and flues at the ends thereof, a drip pan constructed with an inverted trough shaped under side with the longitudinal center thereof in the middle of said drip pan, and shaped upwardly inclined toward the said longitudinal center, a drain pipe opening through one end of the said drip pan. said under side of said drip pan being channeled throughout its entire length forming a flue communicating at each end with the fines at the ends of the ice box.

4. In a refrigerator provided with an ice box having end flues, a drip pan. provided within its under side with an open channel extending through to each end thereof and forming a flue comm unicating with both of said end flues.

In a refrigerator. the combination vith the walls thereof; the ice chamber positioned therewithin and spaced apart therefrom so as to form side and end warm air or gas fines; horizontal. cross beams supported within said refrigerator and underneath said ice chamber; of a drip pan positioned between each pair of said beams and laterally spaced apart therefrom; the said drip pans being inclined or sloped backwardly and held so that their sides will always be sublap the lower edge of the ice chamber and supported to prevent the escape of cold air at either end of the said drip pans, as sot forth. 15

In testimony whereof I have aHiXed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

VILBERT HOOEY..

Witnesses:

EGERTON R. CAsE, OLIVE M. BURIUNslLuv.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for tive cents each, by addressing the Commissioner ot Patents, Washington, D. C. 

